Masonry wall and wall unit



E. W. RANCK MAsoNRY WALL ANDMALL UNIT Npv. 29, 1932 Filed Jan. 27, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR E/anc K wl'rNs's ATTORNEY Nov. 29, 1932. E. w. RANCK 1,889,699

MASONRY WALL AND WALL UNIT Filed Jan. 27, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 BYMYZ.

ATTQRN EY Y They do not provide good -insnlationand they' Patented Noir. 29, 1932 7 UNITED STATE were? ESTA W. mincir, or' CENTAL nehmen, tennero-ni() Masone-Y wane aan Ywam Umm applicati@ mea. Jennery 27, 1931. serial No. 511,630.I

[My invention relates to an improved masonry wallconstructionand a novel-'unit or building block used in constructing the Samet.; Y v C;

Upto the present time most-concrete walls havebeen of twogeneral types, the irstbeing air solid` reinforced kwall made of poured concrete and the second type` bei-ng made up of blocks, tile or other masonry units, superposedandwith a layer vof mortar therebee tween much in the same manner as the ordi-V v l e n meA alare@ percentege .of ts vlmejade; The solid reinforced Wall hasl the advan- Y g 1 nary brick wall.

tage of great tensile strength enabling, the wall to resistbending strains, shocks and-uneven settlingof the foundation.V This type. of wall, however, has the disadvantage that.

itis expensive in the use of material snce the concrete near the center of the wall performs much less useful worl; than that at the outer edges. .The high cost of the solid wall is also Vincreased due tothenecessityof provid-V ing building forms and of 'picking the surfaces ofthe wall topr'ovide binding surface for mortar or stucco. f It is 'also dificult'to properly cre vertical `solid concrete VVwalls.

tend to promote dampness wherever used.

The second type ofwallt made up of'hollow blocks, tile or other umts 1s more economical in the use of materials, requires no forms, provides better insulation timeto construct. v TheY building units can be made by machine and properly cured before.

f being placed in the wall. Y This type of wall,

however, has adisadvanta'ge thatfno practieal scheme or designhas-been:developed to make' it possible to properly reinforce* such a' wall bothY vertica'rlly' andhorizontally. These' walls are therefore lacking intensileY strength and do not present a high resistance to build'- in-gstrains, shocks and'iulneven settling of the foundation These walls are furthermore quite expensive to build due tothe' fact that skilled labor4 must be employed tocprop'erly lay the. blocks with :1l-uniform layer'of mortarseparating the respective units.

Itis anv object of the present invention vtof combine in 'af new type o f masonry unit and' a wall constructed therefrom, the Vadvantage's `back to back with the and reqiiires' less porated ibet ee the' A c of 'both the scilidgreinfv reed concrete ywall and the hollow blocl wall and ,disadvantages `of each.-

n, sa amberobjeta-'pronte 'baiidiiig' v unit which when incorporated in awallwill .s

1 A further object of Ythe.'iI/iv'entionS tof `provide a unit which may be incorporated iii" at wall by unskilled `labor, which :may be;

readily. and Correctly positionedfin' the wall ai eliminate er@v v and which when so posnitionedvvill aiitoinatil cally form with' `adjacentunits',` the vpassa'g ,s' Y above referred to and Valso fthe vdead air spaces.

provide a building' ,unitfcontrary to theeonll mon1 p1a ct1'ce, which is; not intended toxei tendentirely ythrough the wall from ope'l slide" to the other but extends only half through the wall, forming a portiono'fone' face of the wall whilea similarunitlplaf'ced li'r'st'uni't, fo'rii'is'av lar portion of theopposite'face ofthe w l formed in the nnitsthenisel'yfg" but Sim-;

onavt ms when they arent-,ted together.,

' wercfmsseucedzworden@maman:

j A still further objeetofthe invention l l so i and, @nein encarnada@ airspace isfa'ot tionihas the .streiigt'L andthe freedomlfro'rn ,Y

' crackingof a solid reinforced conerete wall,

which, it infact isl It maybe constructed at alow cost with 'a'saving of approximately iftypercent in materials-over a solidwall-, v no formso'r skilled labor is required to build;

building as' the" facesgof 'thefiunits may be properly' finished' during manufacture; Y

,the wall, there is no necessity of jg ickii-1gl or ronghening the surface of the wall wafter f Further obj ec'ts and advantages vnot spe@ cic'aiiy mentioned win "become apparent dering .aie ,Course-'eff the following.' aesaiie'df descriptionL taken cnjiincti'on vvthffffhe accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective View of a portion of a wall and floor constructed according to my invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the construction of they back face and bottom edge of one of the units;

Fig. 3 is a view illustrating a corner unit;

Figfl is a vertical transverse cross section through the wall between two units;

Fig. 5 is a vertical transverse cross section of the wall talen on a line passing through the superposed units. I

Fig. 6 is a horizontal cross section of the wall taken ony the Vline 6-46 of Fig. 4;

`-Fig-7 is a vertical central cross section taken on the line 7 7 ofFig.-5;

Fig.v 8 is a detailV cross section of the floor shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 9 isa perspective view of a modified unit.'V m

Referring now to the drawings in detail used in constructing my improved wall, 1() indicates the block or 'unit proper, the main body of which is composed of a comparative# grally with the body back thereof is a continuous flange or rim ly thin rectangular slab 11. Formed intewhch'isdisposed approximately at right flange or rim from theedge of the block, a

1 recess 1 45is formed and arecess 15 is formed at eachside of the block( A longitudinal -l V-shaped ribA 16 is.

to the rear face of the slab 11 and angles forms with said slabare'cess 13.

which The `liange or rim 12isspacedjfroinsthe edges of the 'block at the top and y Y l of but may beformedfiush withrthe bottom edge as'clearly shown. VBy .sospacing the at `the top of the block formed on the underface of the flange 12,

which as before stated is flush withthe bottom edge ofthe slab 11. Y Y

'My invention also contemplates an iin-I proved walll structure employing the units above described.` The preferred method of building such a wall would be to rst ycon-- struct a suitable foundationof concrete'or other masonry Aworl which should have em,-

bodied therein vertical reinforcing rodsof steel 'or the4V like, spaced apart approximately the Vwidth'of one of1myimproved units.V

These reinforcing rods should have their lower. ends embedded in the foundation and they may `extend Vvertically the full height.V

notedthattwo :units in effect formja block and that the recesses 13 combine `to form a and morer particularly to the individual units portion y11 and on the l2" sides there.V

producing combine to produce a vertical well or column form 17 with the vertical reinforcing mem- Vbers 18 enclosed therein. This vertical well or space is then filled with concrete or other plastic material and'since' each succeeding course of blocks provides similar spaces which register with'those of they first course they form' reinforced concrete columns when filled. lt will be noted then that the abutting ends of adjacent pairs of'units serve as forms for these vertical reinforced'concrete column'sV .whsn'f`illed. lt will be noted :then that theV abutting ends of adjacent pairs of units serve as lforms for 'these verticalfreinforced ooncrete columns vwhich'farebonded fastto the units, forming in effect a' monolithicwall` provided with-aplurality of dead air spaces.

TheV recesses'lt inthe-top of eachfunit combine, when theunits are assembled, in pairs to produce a'horizontal andlongitudinally extending continuous trough yor chan'f nel 19 which extends the full length", ofthe wall.

The flanges or rims '12 4may be so formed that the channel, 19 will be deeperneai-its outer edges than in the center where they rims 0f the two unitsV Contact with eachother. l/Vhen' the second course fof units is to belaid on top of the first course, the troughy or chan-"-E nel 19 Visl partially Vfilled withV concrete or.l

.mortar and tlie'vhoriaontal reinforcing bars and any necessary service pipes 2O are placed in the trough. r)The trough is thenfllled with concreteor mortar, thesameb'eing leveled offv even with the top of the units' with a straight.

. edge or iotherfsuitablejtool. Another course of blocks is then setrupon the blocks justdescribed while the `concrete inthe trough 19 isstillfsuificiently soft'for'the rib 16 to pene-Av trate thesa'me and compact it. lt will be noted here alsothat'tlieedges of the blocksk composed of the pairs of units arein direct contact without' any .layer of mortar what! ever between the same..r lt will also be noted that `the concrete inthe trough 19Vwbich is compacted by, therib lfforms a horizontal reinforced concretev column o'r-girderr which-V will beV integrally united with the 'vertical columnsandwith Vthe adjacent blocks to forni a truly monolithic wall. '-j Theribsl being embedded inthe concrete'inthe trough'lf)r @n impervious jiabyriaai joint which alsoaids in preventing displacement of theindividual blocks orunits; "llhe edges -of the body '11 Vo-f the units 10may be beveled off as at lla so that when the'u'nitsare embodied in the wall a Vshapedrecess will be formed in; the joint which may, if desired, be

Vpointed with a special concretejmiX or also filling the spaces between the concrete.

igseacoak columns and girders and being integrally bonded thereto. It will also be noted that a large dead air space is also enclosed between each pair of units l0.

Half or fractional units may be used around door and `windowframes when necessary and a corner unit 21,shown in Fig. 2,

may be employed to finish the corners of the wall. The inner face ofthe corner unit 2l is also hollowed out to form a recess 22 which combines with the pivotal recess l5 of the pairs of units of each vwall to produce a form .Y for the corner column of the building.

Referring now to F ig. 8, when my improved units are employed in constructing a floor or roof, a number of units 10 are supported in correct position with the flanges 12 extending upwardly. A slightly modified Vunit 23 is then employed to complete the other half of the thickness of the roof or floor. This modified unit 23 is alsoformed with a slab-like main body 24 and is provided with a marginal flange 25 enclosing a recessr26. The flange 25 is of the samedimensions as the flange l2 of the unit l0 so that 'the' units, l0 and 23 are placed back toback and the flanges will register to produce a closed dead .aid space 27. It will be noted that the kunits f3 23 are slightly smaller in surface dimensions than the units l0 so that they will combine with the units l0 when employed in construct! ing a floor or roof, to produce longitudinally and transversely extending channels. .or troughs 2S which are filled with concrete or mortar, forming with the pairs ofk blockslO and 23 a monolithic structure. Reinforcing bars or rods 29 maybe embodiedin theconcrete in the troughs`28 to further strengthen 1^ the structure.

If it becomes desirable tobuild awall thicker than that produced by a'pair of units VlO, one or more unitsj23 may be sandwiched between. the outer units l0 to produce aA wall of any desired thickness. It will be noted that if this is done, an increasingly greater number of deadair spaces willbe formed due to the fact that each block 28 will produce another dead air space. y

If it is desired to provide a wall with stag-y gered joints, a double unit can be produced such as shown in Fig.V 9. This double unit 30 would be a duplicate of two unit-s 'l0 placed end to end. The unit wouldV be composed of Va flat slab-like portion 3l, forming the main body ofthe unit andwould lbe provided withl two continuous flanges orrims 32 an'd, thev .v

bottom of the same being provided ,with ribs dcorresponding to the rib 16 G11 the unit 10. 1

A channel 315' would beformed between the flanges 32 and 33 and vertical recesses 36 would be formed at eachend lof said unit as wellas 'a recess 3T. at theftop thereof. The

recesses 36, and 37 would correspond to theV recesses l5 and 14e respectively, of the unit `lO. It will thus be seen that I have provided a novel yblock and vwall Vconstructed Vtherefrom which'has the strength of a lreinforced concrete-wall and the e`cono1ny. and insulating qualities of anf insulated block wall.The y horizontal troughs and vertical column spacesY Vformed betwen the blocksy provide ideal pas'l i sage ways in which ipo-placepipingl and wiringwhich vhas always been at ,difciilt problem in existing block walls. l

Althoughapreferred elnbodimentof the invention hasv been shown and described,it'

will be understood that variouschanges in the details of construction may be made without departing rfrom the spi-rit of the invention as defined by the appended claims.'

I claim: 1 l. A building unit comprising a rectangular body, a continuous flange formed with'V said body and extending outwardly from the `back thereof,`said flange being spaced in-y wardly from the top and side edges of' said Y body and'disposed substantially flush with the bottom edge thereof, 'and a projection extending from the side-of said flange-which is` flushwith said bottom edge of said body.

y2. A building block composed of a pairof -v units, each unit comprising a ,rectangularl body, a continuous flange extending. from the rear face thereof spaced from the side and top edges of said body and flush with the bot-l tom edgethereof whereby when said units are placedjbacklto back to form said building block, the-edges of 4said flanges will contact to enclose a dead air space within said block l v and wherebyfvertical and horizontal troughs will'be formed at the sides land top of said block due to said spacing of saidflanges,andY

adepending proj ection formed with the portion of said'flange which is flush with the bottom edge of each unit'.

3. In a hollow block wall, a'block compris A ing al pair f of -similar'units f arranged back to Y back and having their forward faces forming a portion of the surfaces .ofwsai'dfwalb a recess formed in the rear falce of each unit whereby to form a dead air space when said 'if units are placed backtobackinawall, said l units having a channel formed in the side and top edges thereof whereby toproduce inter-v communicating longitudinally and vertically -Y extending passages when said'units 'are'as- Y sembled' in said wall, a binder .adapted to fill L' said passages and reinforcing bars embedded in the binder in` said passages wherebyto form reinforcedv t'f'etic'alV columnsf and gird'ers with d said `units united thereto andfproducing in eect a reinforced monolithic Wall having' dead air spaces enclosed therein. l4:.` In a hollow block Wall, a block ing a pair of similar` units arrangedback to.

backand having their forward faces forming a portion of the surfaces `of said Wall,

' v a recess formed in the rear face of each unit whereby to form a dead air space when said units are placed back to back in a Wall, said units having alchannel formed in the side and top edges thereof Wherebyto produce intercommunieating longitudinally and vertically extendingpassages When saidunits are as seinbled in said Wall,a longitudinally extend- 1 ingn rib formed'with the bottoin'edge of each of said units,|anda binder adapted to lill said passages and form with said units a yirtnally compris- 

